


the ides

by cleardishwashers



Category: Ocean's Eleven Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 20:28:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21185528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleardishwashers/pseuds/cleardishwashers
Summary: ficlet set right after danny gets released, for the inimitable gi! hope you had a great birthday and have a great year!





	the ides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [machangula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/machangula/gifts).

Rusty has packed up and moved forty-two times since Danny went to jail. Here’s what he’s brought with him, every single time.

  * His car. Obviously.
  * Two suits. The first one was something that Danny’s dad bought him, and the second was the suit he wore to Danny’s wedding.
  * A beat-up leather case of CDs.
  * An even more beat-up leather jacket, which his father had previously owned.
  * A journal, filled with names and numbers and more names in the event that one of the numbers goes unanswered. And on the last page, a calendar for March 2002, with the 15th circled in red. Danny’s release date.

When he sees someone who looks exactly like Danny appear for a moment in the reflection of a glass pane, he stuffs whatever emotion he’s feeling down into the recesses of his heart and covers it up with the image of the strippers in front of him. He heads back to the poker game, and the Danny lookalike is sitting there grinning, and Rusty feels like he’s finally settled back into his skin.

Later, as the elevator doors close on them, he asks— and that’s what really stings, that he  _ has _ to ask— “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I—”

_ “Don’t _ give me some shit about your parole board,” Rusty says.

Danny holds up his hands placatingly. “Fine. I didn’t want to tell you.”

There’s more to the story, because there always is with Danny, but for the moment his words have the intended effect— they confuse him, and hurt him a little. He’s known Danny too long and too deep to let it distract him, though, because whenever Danny tries to cut him with words, it’s a distraction technique. “You wanted to surprise me.” Danny flicks his eyes up in an almost-eye-roll and lets the corner of his mouth twitch up. Rusty’s right, then. But Danny’s always been playing two games at once, and a Danny fresh out of prison will definitely not have learned his lesson.

But Rusty hasn’t seen him in almost five years, and for now he’s content to grab Danny by the back of his head and pull him in for a kiss. The blueprints almost fall to the floor, but Danny grabs him by the waist and pulls him in closer and the rolled-up paper gets crushed between them as Rusty slides his hand up into Danny’s hair. Rusty drinks it in, savoring the taste of Danny’s lips on his and the feel of Danny’s body pressed against his, and then the elevator bell dings and they hastily separate, because you never know who’s watching. The blueprints fall to the floor, and Rusty picks them up as they walk out. “Missed you,” Danny says, even though they both know it. “A lot.”

“You too, Danny,” Rusty says. He missed Danny, still does, a little, and he also kinda hates him for leaving in the first place.

Danny takes Rusty’s hand and squeezes it briefly. It’s an apology and a reassurance all rolled into one, and even though Rusty knows that there is a very good chance they could go to jail or die in the next month, he squeezes back.


End file.
